Teachers have reacted angrily to a call for school days to be extended to make up for the closure of schools during the coronavirus lockdown.

The Commission on School Reform, which is part of the Reform Scotland think tank, is calling for an extra six hours of teaching during the school week, with pupils staying later into the afternoon for as long as two years.

It has published a report arguing that “there is an urgent need to plan for catch-up of the lessons lost”.

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The commission describes the proposal for six extra hours of lessons as “feasible”. A number of teachers responded on Twitter, with one, Paul Cochrane, saying “fully disagree” and questioning the logic of such an approach “at a time [when] stress and workload are causing early retirement”.

Coronavirus: Teachers against extending the school day

The commission forecasts that its plan would cost approximately £200 million over the two years, based on “very crude” estimates of paying teachers the equivalent for an extra day of work per week.

The report suggests an estimated 19,000 extra staff would be needed, and that this could be made up of retired and student teachers, plus university students from other disciplines.

Prof Lyndsey Paterson suggesting Scottish schools do 1.5 hrs extra teaching per day to catch up. 2 years of
Mon 9 periods
Tue 9 periods
Wed 8 periods
Thursday 8 periods
Friday 6 periods
Employ 20k extra teachers.....

Fully disagree.

- Paul Cochrane CBA (@mrdissent) July 2, 2020

In its conclusion, the report states: “Pupils will have gone 21 weeks without proper schooling. Inequality will have worsened. Schools know what is to be taught and teachers have great experience of enabling pupils to recover lost ground.

“The costs of doing all this are not inordinate. The main extra ingredient that is now required is leadership.”

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS teaching union, said: “The EIS has called already for massive investment in an education recovery programme, including the employment of all current supply teachers, NQTs and specialist support staff.

“The immediate focus of schools should be on pupils’ welfare, however - their wellbeing and mental resilience. It’s not about a mechanistic approach to hours in class but about re-establishing the curiosity and engagement of pupils in a nurturing environment.

“School communities are best placed to plan and deliver such a recovery, although both local and national government have to ensure that the required resources are in place.”

Lindsay Paterson, professor of education policy at the University of Edinburgh and a member of the Commission on School Reform, said: “The start of the new academic year in August is not only about returning children to school - it must be about ensuring that they catch up on the education which has been lost during lockdown.

“While estimates of the loss vary, there is no debate that it exists, and is particularly prevalent amongst the most disadvantaged.

“Catching up will be difficult and expensive, but not to the degree that it cannot and should not be done. £100 million a year is a huge amount of money, but it will be dwarfed by the personal, social and economic cost of the loss of education during lockdown.”

In response to the report, Neil McLennan, University of Aberdeen director of leadership programmes and a former history teacher, tweeted: “Fundamental misunderstanding on many levels. Not least - doing more of the same will not lead to improvement/making up lost ground. Indeed, more of the same may be quite damaging.”

The report looks at different suggestions as to how the additional time could be staffed (it is not expected to be made up by existing staff) but individuals would certainly be paid, and if existing staff chose to cover it, they would be paid extra.

- reformscotland (@reformscotland) July 2, 2020

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We know pupils will need extra help when schools reopen. We are investing an additional £100 million over the next two years to tackle the impact of lockdown and ensure children get the support they need and we are currently considering a range of options on how best to deploy this.

“For those who don’t have the technology at home to learn effectively, we are supplying 25,000 laptops or tablets - with internet access provided - for disadvantaged children to support learning outside school. This is the first phase of our £30 million commitment to support a rollout of digital devices to disadvantaged children and young people.

“Reducing the poverty-related attainment gap remains a defining mission for the Scottish government. In addition to the £182 million to be invested in the Scottish Attainment Challenge this year, we will be working alongside partners to increase support to those families and communities who need it most.”